Facing the Flag eBook

Oh! the horrible mischance! How have I survived
it? How is it that my heart is not broken?

A dim light appeared in the depth of the tunnel, about
twenty-five yards in front of us. The advancing
light could be none other than that, projected through
the lookout of Ker Karraje’s submarine boat.

“The tug! The tug!” I exclaimed.
“Lieutenant, here is the tug returning to Back
Cup!”

“Full speed astern,” ordered the officer,
and the Sword drew back just as she was about
to enter the tunnel.

One chance remained. The lieutenant had swiftly
turned off the light, and it was just possible that
we had not been seen by the people in the tug.
Perhaps, in the dark waters of the lagoon, we should
escape notice, and when the oncoming boat had risen
and moored to the jetty, we should be able to slip
out unperceived.

We had backed close in to the south side and the Sword
was about to stop, but alas, for our hopes! Captain
Spade had seen that another submarine boat was about
to issue through the tunnel, and he was making preparations
to chase us. How could a frail craft like the
Sword defend itself against the attacks of Ker
Karraje’s powerful machine?

Lieutenant Davon turned to me and said: “Go
back to the compartment where Thomas Roch is and shut
yourself in. I will close the after-door.
There is just a chance that if the tug rams us the
water-tight compartments will keep us up.”

After shaking hands with the lieutenant, who was as
cool as though we were in no danger, I went forward
and rejoined Thomas Roch. I closed the door and
awaited the issue in profound darkness.

Then I could feel the desperate efforts made by the
Sword to escape from or ram her enemy.
I could feel her rushing, gyrating and plunging.
Now she would twist to avoid a collision. Now
she would rise to the surface, then sink to the bottom
of the lagoon. Can any one conceive such a struggle
as that in which, like two marine monsters, these
machines were engaged in beneath the troubled waters
of this inland lake?

A few minutes elapsed, and I began to think that the
Sword had eluded the tug and was rushing through
the tunnel.

Suddenly there was a collision. The shock was
not, it seemed to me, very violent, but I could be
under no illusion: the Sword had been
struck on her starboard quarter. Perhaps her plates
had resisted, and if not, the water would only invade
one of her compartments, I thought.

Almost immediately after, however, there was another
shock that pushed the Sword with extreme violence.
She was raised by the ram of the tug which sawed and
ripped its way into her side. Then I could feel
her heel over and sink straight down, stern foremost.

Thomas Roch and I were tumbled over violently by.
this movement. There was another bump, another
ripping sound, and the Sword lay still.